"For the record", an article on Philippine education during the Spanish era
By Bambi Harper
IN HIS book "Estado Geografico, Topografico, Estadistico", Fr. Felix Huertas
in 1855 discusses the state of education in that era.
Contrary to the advice of Sinibaldo de Mas, the liberals in government must
have decided that they preferred an educated populace. Public school
education was introduced in Spain only in the middle of the 19th century and
certainly not in any other colony of any other European power in Asia. The
concept of mass education was relatively new, an offshoot of the 18th
century Age of Enlightenment.
Through the royal decree of Dec. 20, 1863, primary instruction was
established in the Philippines through the creation of the Normal School of
Manila, making it obligatory, with the corresponding responsibility of the
parents, tutors or guardians of poor children spelled out. Schools were
classified according to theior admission, their advancement, and the
teaching staff, and rules were given on these.
Other rules were issued later, among them the Superior Decree of Sept. 12,
1863, complementing what was ordered in the original legislation focusing on
improving primary education and the best development of the teaching of
Spanish among the natives. The decree organized a corps of substitute
teachers.
To conform with these decrees and orders, each town in the archipelago had
to have schools for boys, girls and adults, one for each class in which
Christian doctrine (Doctrina Cristiana), morals and sacred history, reading,
writing, Spanish, basic arithmetic (up to decimal numbers), geography in
general, history of Spain, practical agriculture, good manners and singing
were taught.
Girls lamentably were not taught history, geography or agriculture but they
had lessons in “labores propios”. (One gets the impression that this meant
sewing and embroidery and other household tasks.)
In towns that had 5,000 souls, a school was to be established for each sex.
In those with more than 10,000, the number was to be doubled. A school was
to be added for every 5,000 inhabitants. In very distant visitas of towns
with 500 residents, a school for each sex was to be established, and if
there were many visitas, the school was to be located in the most central
part of town.
Schools for boys were of three types: The first was in towns whose residents
exceeded 500, the middle was those situated in towns of 10,000 and the last
was located in towns that had more than 20,000. The schools for girls were
not classified and were considered to be of the same category.
The schools for boys had teachers who had gone through the required courses
and passed the examinations in the Escuela Normal de Manila. Those who
graduated with honors began their careers in schools of the second category
and some of them got automatic promotion every third year of service,
provided there were no unfavorable comments against them.
In the event of a lack of certified graduate teachers, schools could still
be established with qualified primary school assistants who had studied in
the Normal School. If there were none available, those who had been examined
by the Provincial Commission of Primary Instruction in reading, writing,
arithmetic, the Spanish language, catechism, geography and passed the
examination could be hired.
There were also substitute assistants nominated by the provincial chiefs
upon the recommendation of the local inspector with the concurrence of the
teacher.
The girls’ teachers were of two types: those properly called teachers of
primary education who completed three years of studies at the Escuela Normal
de Nueva Caceres and passed the general examination, and those who passed
the examination in Manila before a special commission and were considered
qualified for the job. There were also substitute teachers whose entry into
the profession was based on the same qualifications as those of the regular
teachers.
The schools for both sexes in the provinces numbered 870 for boys and 794
for girls. Among the students, 84,331 were boys and 70,275 were girls.
Granted the education received was only as good as the teachers and their
material, still the students of this generation were among those who would
opt for independence in 1896 and 1898 and many of them would die for it.
Fr. John Schumacher pointed out that higher education in the Philippines,
despite its defects, “was not far behind, or, under certain respects, was
even superior to the general level of higher education in Spain, at least
outside Madrid.”
We have no record of any of the ilustrados encountering difficulties in
keeping up with their fellow students in the universities abroad. Limited as
the curriculum was, the Philippines was also ahead of some European
countries in offering education for women.
Was it merely content or was it academic freedom that the students were
after? If we view the education of that period in relation to whether the
university enabled them to have the vision to direct society to its national
goals, the revolution of 1896 and even more the war of 1898 must prove that
education had a stronger influence than what has been credited to it.
©2002 www.inq7.net all rights reserved
Source: Daily Inquirer, Apr. 05, 2002
URL: http://www.inq7.net/opi/2002/apr/06/text/opi_blharper-1-p.htm